The 12th Round: GGG – Champion of Champions

By Mauricio Sulaiman
WBC President – Jose Sulaiman’s son

It would be impossible not to dedicate this week’s column to Gennady “GGG” Golovkin. Saturday night in Las Vegas at the T-Mobile Arena, Golovkin finally received the world recognition as the best fighter in the middleweight division and one of the best in the world. Saul Canelo Alvarez fought GGG to a very entertaining fight which had the sold-out arena chanting throughout the fight hoping that Alvarez would bring those glory days of Mexican warriors like Sanchez, Chavez, Morales, Barrera and Marquez back and win the fight of his life precisely on Mexican Independence Day. It didn’t happen.

It was GGG the one fighting “Mexican Style” going forward at all times, dominating the action and trying to engage in a brawl which eventually happened during the last three rounds. Alvarez decided to be the aggressor on the tenth, too late in my personal opinion.

There was a long uphill road to get to do this fight. Too many difficult things happened and it makes no sense mentioning but at the end it was a great night for boxing. Ultimately this was the fight the WBC had mandated and it took place.

The fight in the middleweight division which has been one of the greatest in the history of the sport. Carlos Monzon, Nino Benvenuti, Hagler, Hearns, Leonard, Duran, Jackson, McClellan, Hopkins and in the latest years, which created all the anticipation to this match, Sergio Maravilla Martinez, Miguel Cotto, Saul Alvarez and Gennady Golovkin.

I am extremely proud of Gennady Golovkin for his accomplishments inside and outside the ring. It has taken him too long to be the star of the sport and this mostly due to his low-key, humble way of being. He has never been involved in any scandal, which often makes people famous and popular, he is a family man, married with 2 kids. GGG has remained loyal to everyone who has been there through his journey to glory. His management team, his promoter and his manager and mentor Abel Sanchez. GGG cares for the sport, respects the rules and the structure and respects the belts which recognize him as champion, he followed his dreams and continues to dream.

Gennady is the favorite son of a whole nation, Kazakhstan, he is close to his fans and is constantly doing things to help and support his country.

GGG feels that Mexico is his second home, Chavez is his hero, Abel teaches him the style and he eats Mexican food every day. His favorite place for vacation is Cancun and he travels to Mexico City after every fight to visit Children’s hospital and schools.

A draw. That was the official result as announced by Michael Buffer. GGG retains his titles, remains WBC champion and Canelo proves he stepped into the ring to fight the best and was competitive making a very entertaining fight.

Mexico has two special celebrations, 5 de mayo and September 16. They are so important that today and for many years all major promotions and champions schedules are planned taking those two dates and work to contract them. Mexico is the second most important country for boxing in the world. As far as the number of world champions, it holds second place only behind the USA and boxing fans from the USA are largely made out of Mexican-origin and Latino countries.

The WBC created the “Adolfo Lopez Mateos” commemorative belts for these two dates to celebrate the fights taking place on such occasions. This year has been the “Huichol” belt and a different community will be featured every year. These belts are a piece of art which have the heart of Mexico on them.

It is difficult to express the moment when GGG received the Huichol belt after the fight. He and his team are honored to take such a masterpiece uniting Kazakhstan and Mexico through a belt, building bridges of peace and harmony, of good sportsmanship, fair play and clean boxing.

Boxing is going through a sensational moment worldwide. 2017 has witnessed great fights since the first bell with Badou Jack vs DeGale back in January. I am certain that it will be extremely difficult to select the fight of the year, KO of the year, and all other awards as fortunately there are many to evaluate for the honors.

Floyd Mayweather’s place boxing at the top of the world with the sensational fight against UFC hero McGregor. Joshua brought 90,000 fans to Wembley in his fight vs. Klitschko, Claressa Shields was the main event in a Showtime fight opening doors for women’s boxing and we are still in September with some huge fights still to come during the rest of the year.

I refuse to write about the scoring controversy of this past Saturday. There is no room for that to overshadow the great fight which happened and the very well deserved crowning of Gennady “GGG Golovkin.”

And still the WBC middleweight champion of the world!

Thank you and I welcome one any comments ideas or suggestions at contact@wbcboxing.com